Unless there be economic freedom there can be no other freedom. The
right of no individual to subsistence should be at the good will of any
other individual. More than mere comfort depends on it. There are
eternal and august rights of the soul to be safeguarded, and the
economic position of men should be protected by organization and
democratic law. I have already discussed some of the avenues through
which workers in our time have looked with hope. I have little belief
that these roads lead anywhere but back to the old City of Slavery,
however they may seem to curve away at the outset. The strike, on
whatever scale, is no way to freedom, though the strike--or the threat
of it--may bring wages nearer to subsistence level. The art of warfare
is too much in the hands of specialists for trust to be placed in
revolution. A machine-gun with a few experts behind it is worth a
thousand revolutionary workers, however maddened they may be. Does
political action, on which so many rely, promise more? I do not believe
it does. I believe that to appeal to legislatures is to appeal to
bodies dominated by those interested in maintaining the present social
order, although they may act so as to redress the worst evils created by
it.
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